1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a wheeled exercise device and, more particularly, to a wheeled exercise device with elastic resistance members. In one of its aspects, the invention relates to a wheeled exercise device with elastic resistance members having adjustable pads for varying the device for users of different size and muscle capability.
2. Description of Related Art
There are numerous exercises which an individual may practice to strengthen muscles and maintain muscle tone. The Royal Canadian Air Force has a well-known exercise regiment with several different exercises required. One of the exercises of this regiment requires a person to start in a kneeling position on his hands and knees, then push his body forward, sliding out along his hands with his arms rigid. The exerciser continues pushing forward until his body is in the prone position with his arms extended out beyond his head and shoulders and his hips lowered to the floor. Then, the exerciser returns to the kneeling position by reversing the sliding action. As one can imagine, this is a very difficult exercise especially for an individual who is not in good physical condition.
The movement of the exercise described above is beneficial for the exerciser's arms, shoulders, back and abdominal muscles. In light of this, others have created exercise devices which assist the exerciser in completing the kneeling-prone-kneeling movement through the user of a biased, wheeled exercise device. For example, the German Patent Applications No. 2,029,451 to Neubert published Dec. 2, 1971 and No. 2,017,216 to Buchmann published Oct. 28, 1971 disclose wheeled exercise devices which assist the exerciser in the kneeling-prone-kneeling movement described above. In each of these references, the user grasps an axle which rotatably supports one or more wheels. The user hooks his or her feet into stirrups which are connected to the axle by one or more springs or pieces of elastic. The user can push forward from a kneeling position to the prone position by rolling the wheel away from his knees. This movement is resisted by the springs which extend between the wheel and the user's feet.
Another modification of this device is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 1,984,165 to Tolchin issued Dec. 11, 1934. The device of Tolchin incorporates a pair of fixed knee pads which are mounted adjacent a guide rail upon which a trolley rides The user kneels on the pads, grasps the handle bars of the trolley and extends forward from the kneeling to the prone position and returns to the kneeling position. A compression spring biases the trolley toward the knee pads.
A further modification of such a device is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 3,752,475 to Ott issued Aug. 14, 1973. Ott describes a wheel rotatably mounted on an axle with a spring or other bias means mounted between the wheel and axle which resists rotation of the wheel relative to the axle. Therefore, as the user grasps the axle and rolls the device forward, the rotation of the wheel is resisted by the spring bias.
Unfortunately, the exercise devices described above have two significant drawbacks. First, the Neubert, Buchmann, and Ott devices provide no padding for the user's knees. Therefore, use of the device even on a padded or carpeted floor is quite painful for the user's knees. While the Tolchin apparatus does disclose pads for the knees, these pads are fixed with respect to the moving trolley. Therefore, there is no adjustability for the knee pads, thereby limiting the usefulness of the device for persons of different size and condition.
Second, and perhaps more importantly, each of the devices discussed above incorporate hooks, straps, stirrups and other attachment means which could easily injure the user. For example, if the user is extended to the fully prone position, the springs of the various devices will be stretched a large amount and exert a large amount of force on the hooks and connections between the springs and the connection to the axle and stirrups. If one of these connections or hooks were to fail under this load, both the failed hook and the spring would become projectiles and could injure the user. Therefore, the elimination of these hooks and interconnections enhances the safety of the product.